


all of our summers we’ll have our winter romance

by kitnkabootle



Category: Mum (TV 2016)
Genre: Christmas, F/F, F/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 08:04:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17056001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitnkabootle/pseuds/kitnkabootle
Summary: A collection of Christmas stories centering around Cathy Walker and the family.





	all of our summers we’ll have our winter romance

“You have to?”

“There’s no way out of it.”

“But what if it was — Maureen or something.”

“Then you must be mindful Derek. Have some sense of your surroundings. If you find yourself standing beneath the mistletoe at the same time as someone else, you must kiss them — it’s tradition.”

“Right, well what if it was Cathy then? Or Jason?”

“Look if you want to make it weird Derek and live out some incestuous fantasy of yours — then by all means linger beneath it and listen for the banjos.”

“Don’t worry there’ll be no chance of that. I’ll be avoiding that area of the hall, thank you very much.”

Pauline held up her empty wine glass, “Well there isn’t one in the kitchen so if you could just...”

Derek took the glass but waited until his back was turned to roll his eyes, missing Pauline purse her lips together matter-of-factly after him.

Not chancing the hall, he went through the sunroom instead. He found Michael lingering in the kitchen, eating a slice of Cathy’s Christmas cake.

“Alright, there?” Michael asked, looking up from the dessert as Derek passed by.

Derek opened the fridge door and read the labels of several wine bottles until he’d found the one that wasn’t Jacob’s Creek, “Of course mate, of course. It’s just — Pauline’s doing my head in with all of this mistletoe nonsense.”

“What d’you mean?”

“Well, she says it doesn’t matter who you’re stood under there with — you have to kiss them.”

“Is that right?”

“Steady Michael, haven’t seen Cathy under it yet,” Derek pulled the cork from the bottle and began to pour it into Pauline’s lipstick-marked glass.

“I was hoping I’d catch you under there,” Michael grinned.

“Very funny,” Derek rolled his eyes again and put the stopper on the wine bottle before digging in the fridge for the eggnog, “So what is going on with you and Cathy?”

Michael blinked as he set his empty plate into the sink, “Uhh... how do you mean?”

“Well what base are you at?”

“She’s your sister mate.”

“Yeah I know, I know but you two are moving at the pace of Thameslink queues at the holidays,” Derek poured a generous glass of eggnog for himself and gestured to an empty cup for Michael but he shook his head.

“No, no... we are just — taking our time.”

“At our age Michael, we’ll all be dead before you even step up to bat.”

Michael laughed as Derek collected the two glasses and headed back into the living room, via the mistletoe-free sunroom, the other man in tow.

Maureen was fast asleep in the chair, one leg up on the coffee table and Reg was staring at the telly playing a loop of old Christmas movies.

“Where in the bloody hell are you getting the wine from Derek, a vineyard?” Pauline could be heard asking the empty kitchen.

“I’m in the living room, my little cherub!” Derek called to her as Michael stood near the Christmas tree adjusting one of the ornaments that decorated the branches.

Pauline walked back through the hall just as Cathy had returned from upstairs and the two collided near the doorway.

“Oh Pauline I’m so sorry,” Cathy said gently, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine Cathy, but you should be more careful,” Pauline huffed. She used the wall for support as she slipped on her high heel that had fallen off in the collision.

“Hey, Pauline — looks like the two of you can kiss and make it all better,” Derek gestured with his eggnog towards the mistletoe that hung above Pauline and Cathy.

Cathy looked from Derek to Michael then back at Pauline in confusion, “Oh no... no that’s just a bit of fun that Dave used to li—“

“No sis, that’s the rules, Pauline said so herself. It doesn’t matter who’s stood beneath it — it’s tradition!” Derek stared at Pauline with a satisfied smile, “Isn’t that right Pauline?”

“Yes well,” Pauline swallowed, her eyelashes fluttering as she looked back to Cathy.

“Or maybe it’s a bit extreme and you only have to kiss the person if you’re romantically interested in them,” Derek offered but Pauline just kept her eyes on Cathy, her expression prim yet determined.

Cathy moved to step out from beneath the cluster of leaves and berries but before she could, she felt Pauline’s hands press into her shoulders. Cathy opened her mouth to speak but found Pauline’s lips soft yet insistent against her own.

Derek’s face fell significantly from the smug grin he had previously affected when he had expected Pauline to admit — for once — that she might be wrong. He watched then as the kiss went on for much longer than he could have even anticipated.

Pauline’s hands had circled around to clasp at the back of Cathy’s shoulders and Cathy’s hands, that had been frozen at her sides, had made their way to Pauline’s waist.

“Right well you’ve made your point, Pauline,” Derek grumbled.

The kiss continued, with neither drawing breath as Pauline’s fingertips tangled at the back of Cathy’s hair, their lips moving against one another’s in what had quickly become a passionate embrace. 

Derek turned to look at Michael but the man was frozen in place, holding an ornament over his index finger as he stared at the pair.

Finally, what seemed like ages later, they parted, breathless, with Pauline’s lipstick smudged and printed on Cathy’s mouth.

“Uhh,” Pauline drew trembling fingertips under her own lips in an attempt to fix her lipstick, still staring wide-eyed at Cathy, “I’m—“

Cathy ran her own hand over her mouth, looking just past Pauline, “Right, I think I’ll just —“ she gestured to the kitchen before sidestepping Pauline and disappearing through the doorway.

“See sis, Pauline’s got it all wrong—” Derek followed along after Cathy, pecking Pauline on the cheek since she still stood dazed in the hall beneath the bough of mistletoe.

Michael still stood staring at Pauline, his finger still dangling with the forgotten ornament when she finally came back to her senses. Her hands smoothed down her own hips, straightening her skirt and then moved up to pat at her hair before she moved back into the living room.

“Ummm, I—“ Michael realized he was still holding the ornament so he turned and hung it over a branch, using the opportunity to face his blazing cheeks away from Pauline.

“Michael?” she said behind him.

“Hmm?” Michael asked, turning his head to the side to listen.

“You’re a bloody idiot,” Pauline answered breathlessly, crossing one leg over the other, “If you don’t make a move, I’m inclined to myself.”

But Michael didn’t hear the last of it as he’d already taken the mistletoe down and was off for the kitchen as fast as his legs would carry him.


End file.
